The Edge of Reason
by Xenopsyche
Summary: Danny's growing influence has become to great for Vlad to ignore any longer, so he enacts his final scheme, a gambit as fraught with risk as his reawakening of Pariah Dark. But it involves no ancient ghosts or powerful artefacts this time. No, this time its an attack aimed directly at Danny himself, and Vlad may have just over-stepped his mark...
1. And Here We go

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

**[AN: Allow me to welcome you to my first attempt at an entirely original DP story. In fact, it was the idea for this story that spawned all of my fics after 'Pre-emptive Strike', as I felt I needed a way to build up the background to this concept.**

**I will explain more at the end of this chapter, so I will detain you no longer.**

**I hope you enjoy the first chapter./AN]**

* * *

**The Edge of Reason**

**Chapter 1:****And Here We Go...**

* * *

"Skulker, are the charges in place? Fright Knight is en-route and he cannot lead an army that is still locked behind bars," drawled the patronising voice now echoing through his comm unit.

Skulker couldn't help the scowl that morphed his metallic features. Deciding to grit his teeth and bear it, he continued to listen. He might not like the guy, but he paid well, so he put up with his boss' superiority complex; for the moment at least.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's primed and set to go off when he arrives, so long as _he _keeps his schedule. I've cleared the way to your Portal as well, so there shouldn't be any problems for that part of your plan."

"Good, just ensure that you are in position when the time comes; if you fail than this entire exercise will be pointless."

"Yeah, I got it; I'll hang back until you tell me to go. But what makes you think that this plan of yours is even going to work? The Whelp has become much more powerful in the last few years, and now he has that whole team behind him."

"Oh I have no doubt Daniel will be able to see off this attack, but that is not the point. This is but the first move in a very stacked game of chess; I wouldn't expect you to understand such complexities."

Skulker sneered in distaste, but once again decided it best to hold his tongue (metaphorically speaking). As he flew away from Walker's prison, he decided that Plasmius' ego was like the Ghost Zone; infinite, unexplainable and mind-numbingly infuriating.

* * *

"And how's my beautifully gothic fiancée doing this morning?" Danny said with over-the-top enthusiasm as he slid into his customary spot at their favourite breakfast joint in the town centre.

Sam's scowl would have sent lesser heroes scurrying for cover, but not Danny; he had built up a resistance of sorts after nearly fifteen years of exposure to it. Now he just grinned.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, 7am is an unholy hour to be awake at on a Saturday. So why did you insist on meeting up this early again?"

"Come on Sam, you know it's one of the few times Tuck has free that matches up with us, at least for the next couple of months."

"Sleep time does _not_ count as free time just because _you're_ used to being up at all hours," she accused, still clearly conveying her displeasure with the morning hour.

"You never complain when I come by at midnight to get patched up," Danny said, smirking when Sam failed to conceal the small blush that had coloured her cheeks.

"That's different. Besides, midnight is not time for sleep; 7am on a Saturday morning, however, _is_," she defended.

"You know, most people would disagree with that statement," he shot back, enjoying the opportunity to indulge in their usual banter.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time, and it won't be the last, either," she replied as sass began to predominate over irritation, before taking another sip of her tea, "and by the way, where's my daughter?"

"Still at home, I think she must have inherited your sleeping habits because when I tried to wake her up, her response was something like 'uugghhhh' and then turning invisible. It wouldn't surprise me if she shows up here in half an hour when she realises what she's missing."

"Hmmm, it's only been three days since I last saw her and I'm already feeling like part of me is missing; Maternal Instincts: 1, Rational Thought: 0," she responded dryly.

"I told you you'd make a great mum. And just think, less than a year and we can really be a family."

"I am _definitely_ looking forward to that," Sam said as she leaned in for a kiss.

Of course, their little moment was interrupted by the arrival of the third member of their usual quintet.

"Ugh, three years on and you _still_ haven't gotten all the 'Lovebird' stuff out of your systems yet?"

The pair just deepened their kiss, pointedly ignoring their bereted friend's arrival and subsequent jibe.

"You know, if you want some privacy, I can just go…" he deadpanned when they still hadn't responded.

Finally disengaging from each other, Danny slid over in his booth to make room while Sam slid a menu his way, even though none of them had changed their order in months.

Seeing the three regulars in their seats, Sandy, one of the long-time waitresses, quickly made her way over to them, more to confirm their order than anything else.

"Let me guess, scrambled eggs on a bagel, with grilled tomato, hash browns and bacon on the side for Danny, Veggie fritters and a bowl of porridge for Sam, and the 'Tuck In' special for Tucker? I imagine Valerie will want her usual as well, when she gets here. And no Dani today? We even had some waffles ready to go for her."

"No, she's sleeping in this morning, but I'm sure she'll be here soon enough. If not, then I'll just have to describe how good those waffles tasted to her in exacting detail when I get ba-" Danny started before being cut off by a familiar icy tingle in the back of his throat. Pretending to clear his throat with a small cough, the faintly visible puff of condensation quickly dissipated.

But the cold, frigid sensation coiling up through his airways didn't. In fact, it only got stronger.

Sandy looked on in concern as he quickly fell into a very audible coughing fit, despite his obvious attempts to suppress it. It was a wet, hacking sound that reminded her of the time her brother had come down with pneumonia. She was so surprised by the sudden and violent reaction that she didn't even notice the sudden drop in the room's temperature.

But Sam and Tucker did.

They had immediately recognised the signs of Danny's Ghost Sense going off, but this reaction was new and concerning. He hadn't been affected like this since his ice core began to really manifest itself, before he had learned to channel it; and that was _years_ ago.

As such, they were keenly aware of the plummeting air temperature, and they could quite clearly see Danny's mug of coffee freeze over as his coughing intensified.

Eventually regaining some semblance of control over his powers, Danny managed to half-stand and slip past Tucker, forcing out an excuse about going outside for some air, in-between his bronchial spasms.

Tucker and Sam watched in shock as he stumbled out of the diner, the windows next to his path frosting up as he went. After a moment of mutual confusion, they were immediately offering their own apologies to their stunned waitress and rushing out after their friend.

They found him, as Phantom, floating motionless above the street, surrounded by snap-frozen trees and plantings that made the whole scene look like some sort of disturbing fantasy realm. But that wasn't what froze them to the spot. No, that was something completely different.

It was the hundreds upon hundreds of ghosts rapidly descending on the town like an ant colony swarming over a sugar cube.

If he had of been facing them, they would have seen Danny's eyes go from wide and shocked to dangerously narrowed and glowing with a rarely seen intensity. But they couldn't, so all they had to go off to judge his current feelings was his voice.

A voice that sounded about as warm as their currently ice-entombed surroundings.

"Tucker, call everyone in. Call everyone in, right now."

* * *

**[AN: A couple of notes first up:**

**Firstly, I said I had two more DP stories in the works recently, but that is no longer the case. The fic I was planning to have before this one just didn't pan out as the plot wasn't really compelling enough to justify it; it was basically an expanded version of Lancer's chapter in 'The Team Phantom Handbook'. ****On the plus side, that means I could get this chapter out sooner.**

**Secondly, this fic is to blame for the slight delay with the next chapter of 'TTPH', and I will aim to alternate updates, hopefully getting out one for each every week, but I can't promise it.**

**Thirdly, I want to clear up some continuity points. this fic takes place a couple of years after the main body of 'The Events That Shape Us' but slightly less than a year _before _that stories epilogue chapter. There are a couple of minor continuity errors between this story and early chapters of 'TTPH', as my ideas surrounding this story-verse have evolved as I've been writing. I intend to go back and update 'TTPH' soon, when I have the chance as some parts are in dire need or an update and the formatting in general could use some work.**

**And finally, a quick explanation of Danny's ghost Sense because I haven't had the chance to explain it in 'TTPH'. basically, I imagine it as a slight jump in power output by his Primary (ice) core that occurs when it is exposed to trace increases in ectoplasm, such as when another ghost shows up. This is because he lives in an ectoplasm-poor environment, so his cores react strongly to even minute increases in concentration, hence the runaway effect seen in this chapter when literally hundreds/thousands of ghosts suddenly showed up at the same time.**

**And now that those are out of the way, thanks for taking the time to look at this story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will continue to enjoy the rest of this story as it comes.**

**If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it.**

**Thanks again!**

**/AN]**


	2. Time Enough

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

**[AN: Sorry for the wait, but here we are. I've been quite busy recently, so I will get back to those who have reviewed and PM'd me as soon as possible, but that might be in the next couple of days. This chapter ended up much longer than I thought it would, so the next couple of chapters are where it really starts to get interesting.**

**Thanks for taking the time to read, and I hope you enjoy the story. /AN]**

* * *

**The Edge of Reason**

**Chapter 2:**** Time Enough**

* * *

Danny started issuing orders immediately.

"Sam, get back to FentonWorks and gear up, you're going to need to be in the thick of it, so go heavy on armour and weapons. Tuck, grab the Speeder and bring some heavy fire, I need you to try and keep them contained on the ground, I'll take them from the air. We need to keep them busy until we can get some real reinforcements."

Neither of them hesitated as they both dashed off at a dead sprint in the direction of the auspicious building.

Turning back towards the horde of encroaching ghosts, Danny sped off to meet them head on as he keyed the radio in his Fenton Phones.

"Jazz, where are you?"

"Just got to the Ops Centre, I'll be plugged in and online soon." Her voice replied, her laboured breathing audible even over the rushing wind whipping past his head; she must have sprinted up to the Ops Centre once she got Tuck's message.

"Good, I'll need you running Command and Control. Tell me once you have an enemy reading so I know what we're dealing with here, and tell mom and dad to grab the GAV and coordinate with Lancer, start getting people to the protected areas; I don't think this is going to be over any time soon," he stated grimly, a fact that was becoming all too apparent as he approached the horde of ghosts.

"Will do, and they're already on it. Everyone's checked in as well, well, except for Clockwork, but that's not a surprise. Dani's on her way to you, as well, want me to patch her in?"

"Yes please, Val too," he said as he rapidly approached the nearest group of ghosts. He really hoped they would respond soon because he was running out of time to give them a role.

Thankfully, it was at that moment that time… stopped.

It took a moment for Danny to notice that everything else around him had stopped moving and register the familiar weight of one of Clockwork's medallions hanging around his neck. Turning around he was greeted by the floating form of Clockwork himself.

"Clockwork! You're here! In person! Why- oh man, does this mean everything is about to go _really_ badly? What should I do? Is someone going to get hurt? Is it Sam or-" Danny exclaimed before his slightly frantic rambling was cut off by the now elderly ghost floating in front of him.

"Calm yourself, Daniel; all is as it should be. I am here because you requested my presence, and because I know that you could use my help. I also brought some friends; they happen to be yours, as well."

Sure enough, there on the ground beneath them were the rest of his allies, human and spectral alike; Sam, loaded up with body armour, a Fenton bazooka, two wrist-rays and a collapsed ecto-staff; Valerie, in her upgraded and overhauled Red Huntress suit, Jet-sled at the ready and bristling with weapons; Dani, practically glowing with power and eager as always for a fight; and Wulf, standing proud and tall, vicious claws on full display.

But the real surprise was Dora, Frostbite and Pandora. Not only were they present, they had come with a rather substantial force of their elite units:

Dora and her Elite Guard; fifty of the best Knights in her realm, covered head-to-toe in plate mail, some mounted and some on foot, and all carrying a small arsenal of weapons from long swords to flails to heavy maces. And that's not even including Dora herself, her draconic form having proved to be very effective in previous engagements.

Frostbite and the Warriors of the Far Frozen; each one standing over twelve feet tall and covered in intricate patterns war-paint, cradling immense ice weapons, great swords and war hammers mainly, with ease

And Pandora and her Hoplites; one hundred fully armoured Greek hoplites in neat formation, immense Hoplon shields held proudly by their sides.

They were all also perfectly static, the lack of a medallion around the neck of any of them explaining that curiosity.

"Uh… wow," was Danny's intelligent response as he stared in shock at the intimidating array of ghosts in front of him, "so, uh, you…" he trailed off, allowing Clockwork to finish his half-statement.

"… Stopped time and teleported them all here, yes. Until now, time was a rather scarce resource for you; I thought I could help with that."

And with that he began to place medallions around the necks of all his allies, each one quickly reacting to the change in scenery, noting the medallion now hanging around their necks, then Clockwork, and finally the presence of everyone else.

"You couldn't just, I don't know, ignore the Observants and reverse time back to _before_ the giant horde of ghosts attack, could you?" Danny queried, just in case.

Clockwork's neutral, unamused expression was his only answer.

"Yeah, I didn't think so…" he sighed, before turning to his allies who were taking a moment to catch up and take stock.

"Well, that should help even the odds," Sam stated dryly as she inspected the rows upon rows of impressive troops.

"Indeed," was Pandora's only response as she sized up the yeti-like Far Frozen warriors and the heavily armoured procession of Knights.

"Frostbite!" Dani all but squealed as she raced up to her enormous friend.

"Hello Little One! Have any of your ice powers started developing yet?"

"No, just my Ghost Sense, but I'm sure they will soon!"

"A pity, I imagine you would have gotten much practice today!" he replied, laughing deeply as he did.

"Damn, I'm glad I never tried fighting any of you guys…" Valerie trailed off as she too made her greetings and took in the sight of the multitude of friendly ghosts.

It was Frostbite that was the first to bring everyone's attention back to the topic at hand when he noticed Danny waiting patiently.

"What do you require of us, Great One? You may command my forces as you see fit," Frostbite declared, bowing low as he did so.

Pandora echoed the sentiment

"Mine as well, young Phantom."

"My Knights are yours, Sir Phantom, though they will need to be roused from this stasis first…" Dora noted as she inspected her immobile troops.

"They will, in time. The number of medallions required for every member of this group would have been… problematic," Clockwork stated as he took a place next to the rest of the team, "now, I believe you were about to give us our roles, Daniel?"

"Uh, yeah, right, just give me a moment…" he mumbled as he tried to focus back on the impending battle, clearing his mind of the concerns that had been plagued with anxiety just beforehand.

"Right, okay. Pandora; I need your Hoplites to secure a safe perimeter a couple of blocks out from the major safe zones and make a corridor for my parents and to funnel civilians through. The ghost shields and automated defences should hold, but they'll be badly exposed on the way there if we can't contain these guys. Once the civilian's are secure, then they can join the fray. You yourself can do as you see fit, either stay with your troops or fight on the ground; I'll leave it up to you."

The four-armed queen nodded in understanding, drawing her weapons in preparation.

"Dani, Val, you two need to corral them in the air, keep them from going beyond a certain point. Tucker will be doing the same on the ground with the Spectre Speeder and we'll try and push them into a single localised point in the park."

"Got it Danny, they won't get passed us," Valerie said as she hopped onto her board and prepared to take off.

"You got it, Daddy," Dani agreed.

"Dora, Frostbite, you and your forces will be providing most of the muscle for this; hit them from two sides and drive them back to the park. I'll take care of them after that," Danny stated grimly as the two leaders in question nodded, understanding the implication.

"Sam, Wulf, I need you two to stick together and stay mobile, take out any targets of opportunity you find. Don't get bogged down and don't let them get organised; the more off balance we can keep them, the better. And Wulf, keep her safe; something about this whole thing is just… _wrong_, I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I have a bad feeling about this."

Wulf bowed his head in acknowledgement, and for once Sam didn't try and fight his (over)protective nature.

"And Clockwork… actually, I don't really have a role for you; I've never had to think about it before," he admitted sheepishly.

"I can help everywhere. While the use of my temporal powers may be restricted, my more mundane abilities should be more than sufficient," Clockwork replied with small grin that looked almost… malicious.

With a tap of his staff, the large group was suddenly surrounded by twenty more Clockworks, each looking like a different warrior from a different period in history, and all wreathed in ecto-energy.

"… Well, that should work," Danny deadpanned while the others just nodded mutely. He and Sam had seen it before, though it was still something of a shock.

"And what about you, Great One? What will you be doing?" Frostbite asked when he had shaken off his surprise.

Before Danny could reply, Clockwork, the original, interrupted.

"I would suggest that he deal with the leader of this assault," he said as he pointed his staff towards the myriad ghosts before them.

There, at the head of the hoard was a familiar, and unwelcome, ghost; clad entirely in heavy black iron plate armour, adorned with spikes, weapons and with a blazing purple cape flaring out behind him, he cast an immediately recognisable silhouette.

Frozen in time, the Fright Knight sat on his demonic steed, Soul Shredder held high as he led the horde at a gallop, heading straight for the centre of town.

Danny looked thunderous as he recognised one of his more devastating foes, but to everyone's surprise (other than Clockwork's), it was _Pandora_ that seemed the most enraged.

"I will fight with you against him, Phantom. I have… history, with that monster."

"Alright then, is everyone clear on their roles?" Everyone present nodded and readied there weaponry. "Good. Get your troops up to speed and then hit them with everything you've got; this is going to be a long day. Clockwork…?"

The hooded ghost nodded and tapped his staff while everyone prepared for the chaos that would ensue.

"Time in."

* * *

**[AN: And there you have, the full assembly of (my version of) Team Phantom. This chapter may be a little confusing and a bit dull as it's mainly background and a touch of foreshadowing. **

**The next chapter or two will be very action heavy, and I haven't really had much opportunity to practice that style of writing in DP fics; the closest was a brief and very one-sided battle between Danny and Valerie in 'The Events That Shape Us'. So please bear with me as I try to write it and there may be some delays associated with that, but I will try to get the next chapter up about this same time next week. **

**Also, the animosity between Pandora and Fright Knight is entirely part of my head-canon and so has no actual basis in canon-fact, but I have my reasons for it...**

**Thanks for reading! /AN]**


	3. The Fray

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

**[AN: And here we are, I apologise profusely for the wait, but it was largely unavoidable and I am hopefully about ready to return to a reasonably consistent update schedule. I've also gone back and cleaned up the previous chapters somewhat, they're pretty minor changes, but I'm just letting you know.**

**Any way, this is the first of at least three chapters dealing with the battle, so without further adieu... /AN]**

* * *

**The Edge of Reason**

**Chapter 3:**** The Fray**

* * *

Danny's original plan had been to head Fright Knight off, deal with him, then go from there. Of course, it wasn't quite that simple.

Upon seeing him, Fright Knight had let himself be swallowed by the horde, using it to screen himself from Danny and his allies. So now Danny and Pandora had to fight through some hundreds of ghosts just to reach him.

That was going to take a toll.

There was a useful fact Danny had learned by (hard) experience early on in his hero 'career'; five weak enemies were harder to fight than a single tough one. This was mainly because they could attack form more angles and you had to divide your attention between them. Now multiply that out a hundred-fold, and you can begin to see why Danny was _really _not pleased about the current situation.

His first thought was, naturally, to punch straight through, but while the ghosts in front of him weren't much of a threat, it was all the ones that came to fill in the void left _behind_ him that became a problem. Only a series of desperate teleports and aerial manoeuvres had saved him from serious injury; he was going to cop an ear-full from Sam later if she ever found out.

Now he had something of a decision to make; keep applying pressure and compressing the ghostly swarm, thus making it even harder/impossible to reach Fright Knight, or let them disperse and fight them across the town, but gaining immediate access to Fright Knight.

The first would mean the fight would drag on for some time and it would put his team at serious risk, but it would give the civilians time to get to safety. Alternatively, they could end the major, obvious threat quickly, but then have to spend hours on clean-up across the city, hunting down the dispersed ghosts and risking civilian casualties.

It wasn't much of a choice, really.

"Pandora, we can't get to him, not yet. As soon as he's vulnerable, we'll take him down, but until then, we need to thin these guys out as much as possible."

The imposing spectre was blazing with rage, but she nodded in acquiescence.

"What do you propose?"

"We cover each other's flank and get into the thick of it; the more we can have focusing on us, the better off everyone else will be."

"Very well, they shall know our might after this day!"

She didn't know just how prophetic her words would turn out to be.

Nodding grimly in agreement, Danny focused on the nearest cluster of foes, teleporting into the midst of them and reappearing in an explosion of super-chilled air. Every droplet of moisture in the air surrounding the ghosts snap-froze, entombing them and causing the whole group to plummet to the ground, where they could be easily dealt with by Frostbite and Dora's forces.

The three ghosts he targeted next where nearly vaporised as an ecto-blast ripped through each one's form, quickly fading out of existence. Danny knew they weren't actually destroyed; you needed to eliminate the core to truly destroy a ghost, but their cores were unable to find and maintain enough ectoplasm to manifest themselves, causing them to effectively disappear and retreat to the Ghost Zone, taking them out of the fight.

Normally Danny loathed using such painful and destructive means, but capture and containment simply wasn't an option in this fight, the stakes were too high. And besides, they had attacked _his_ home, _his_ friends and _his_ family en-masse; he needed to send a message that this was _not_ okay.

A large, ape-like ghost charged him next, but Danny side-stepped (side-floated?) and latched on to its nearest limb. If the creature had of been made of flesh and blood, it's shoulder joint would have been shattered by the force Danny used to hold it in position; it was a ghost, however, and so the limb merely stretched and distended. Of course, the sensation of pain was no less severe, and the ghost howled in agony as Danny checked its momentum and then sent it careening into another pair of encroaching spectres.

A more humanoid ghost fired a salvo of ecto-blasts at him, but a short teleport simultaneously brought him out of the path of the attack and into the face of his attacker. Grabbing the still outstretched limb, ice raced out from where his finger tips touched the ghost, freezing the arm solid in under a second while Danny brought his other arm around in a crushing blow that left the other ghost reeling. Wrenching on the now-frozen arm, he twisted the unfortunate ghost beneath him, shattering much of the arm in the process, before using him as a spring-board to crash tackle another nearby ghost, whilst sending the (literally) disarmed spook crashing into those below him.

He collided with the next ghost and didn't waste a second in vaporizing it with a close range burst of ecto-energy, before absorbing a hail of incoming fire with an ecto-shield. He unleashed a flurry of strikes on one of the ghosts that had tried to get in close while he was distracted, raining crushing blows down on the stunned creature. The ghost never even had the chance to respond before it was being hurled into the sky, just in time for Danielle to blast it with a precise trio of shots.

Another ghost tried to tear at him from behind, but it was interrupted when a burnished bronze spear, glowing with ectoplasmic energy, pierced directly through its chest cavity, halting its attack. Danny turned around just in time to see Pandora send another ghost flying with a mighty strike of her shield and he was about to intervene against two more hostiles that seemed to think Pandora was now exposed and defenceless as they rushed towards her.

How wrong they were.

Her other two arms were already in the process of unsheathing a pair of gleaming Xiphos short-swords, which were immediately buried deep into the would-be attacker's bodies. Only a nod was shared between the two warriors as the impaled ghosts faded from sight and they moved on to their next targets.

* * *

Dani was having the time of her life.

And sure, she realised that it was actually a really serious situation and that people could get really hurt if something went wrong, but she almost never got the chance to really test her powers out, and she finally got to spend some more girl-time with Val.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't everyone's idea of 'girl-time', but it worked for them.

Besides, she wasn't really in the thick of things, not like Mummy or Daddy. Sure, every once and a while some ghost would spot her and think she was an easy target; they got a full-powered ecto-blast to the face for their trouble. But mainly she was flying around the perimeter, chasing down runners and raining shots into the really thick parts of the ghostly mass beneath her; the real trick was pacing herself, even she knew this wasn't going to be a quick fight.

After blasting Danny's most recent offering, she called out to Val who was lining up for another strafing run.

"Hey Val, how many are you up to?"

"23-wait no, make that 25. How about you?"

"Ha, I'm on 31, betcha' can't catch up to me!" She shouted back triumphantly.

"Considering I just got to 33 while you were preening, I might just take that bet!" the smirk in her voice was obviously and she only laughed harder when she saw Dani pouting at her response.

Glaring at the armour-clad huntress, Dani redoubled her efforts, but not before worrying ever so slightly about how her mum was doing.

* * *

**[AN: So what did you think? This is my first attempt at writing some proper action sequences for this fandom, so I'm interested to see what you all think of it; there will be more to come, so it would be in your best interest to point out any areas I could improve in.**

**The next chapter will deal with the ground forces (Sam, Wulf, Dora and Frostbite, and Clockwork will almost certainly show up). Beyond that, it's still up in the air, but I do have a very distinct plan for this story on a macro scale, so it won't turn into a never-ending ramble.**

**Thanks for waiting and reading, and I hope you enjoyed the update. /AN]**


	4. Over My head

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

* * *

**The Edge of Reason**

**Chapter 4:**** Over My Head**

* * *

Normally, Sam was pretty dismissive of her fiancée's overprotective nature; it was a part of who he was and it always had been. Plus, if she was honest with herself, she may, on rare occasions, be kind of protective towards him, to (read: she was really just as bad, if not worse).

Today, however, she was quite glad he had insisted on Wulf sticking with her.

While she'd probably never admit it to his face (he would be unbearably smug about it for a week afterwards, at best), she would have been somewhat out of her depth trying to hold her own against _this many_ ghosts.

It wasn't like she wasn't experienced in ghost fighting or anything; she'd had years of experience hunting down various ghosts with Danny. But that was hunting, which is _definitely_ not what this maelstrom was.

She'd already taken a couple of hits so far, as her charred and ectoplasm-stained armour could attest to, and Wulf had pulled her ass out of the fire (literally in one case) on a couple of occasions. Of course, she had returned the favour as well, so it wasn't like she was the only one struggling, it was just an intense battle and neither of them were inclined to give an inch to the enemy horde.

A round from her bazooka detonated and the resulting portal sucked in a clump of ghosts that had made the mistake of bunching together just a little bit to close, while another two took the opportunity to line her up. A quick roll behind a nearby car blocked the shots and she popped back up and hit both offenders with a blast from her wrist rays; the car was a loss, however.

Wulf, for his part, was making use of his unnatural strength and agility, leaping through narrow alleys, dashing between obstacles and targets and just generally shadowing Sam's movements. They worked well together; she would clear the path ahead, while he would clean up the sides and rear and pull her out if things got too hot.

Like right now.

Seven more ghosts quickly filled the spots left by the ones she'd just taken out, and they knew an exposed target when they saw one.

Of course, they didn't count on the 8ft tall Lycanthrope that came flying through their midst's in a flurry of slashing claws.

Two of the would-be attackers went down immediately as Wulf continued on his trajectory, scooped Sam up and then bounded off down another side-street, beating a rapid retreat.

After less than a minute of gut-churning leaps and feats of agility (despite possessing the usual powers of flight and intangibility, Wulf rarely made use of them), she was deposited back at what had become their forward base of sorts, where the Fenton's had helpfully dropped off a cache of weapons and power packs, as well as a large supply of Ecto-perfecto to help any badly wounded ghosts.

Unfortunately, that supply was getting a good workout.

Badly wounded allies were dotted around the site, some missing limbs, others possessing new cavities in their chests, and the forms of others were flickering violently as their cores struggled to retain their shapes.

Her mind briefly wondered if that's what Danielle had looked like before Danny had saved her, before she clamped down on the stray thought; she couldn't afford to worry about them, to even think about them at the moment. If she got distracted for even a second in the middle of a fight, then Danielle might not have a mother any more.

Two of Clockwork's duplicates were floating around the area, doing what they could to stabilise the wounded and return them to the battle, but there was only so much that could be done, and another one faded away before her eyes as its core failed and died.

There were more here than there were last time, about twenty, but most of the ones she had seen previously were gone.

She wasn't sure if that was good news or not.

Gritting her teeth, she powered past the injured as she made her way to the makeshift armoury to rearm and check her armour for damage, doing her best to block out the sounds of the battle raging around her.

She shrugged off the heavy plates of her customised armour (black with violet accents, naturally) and gave it a quick visual inspection for any structural damage. Satisfied that it was still functional, she hooked it up to the diagnostic computer for a proper check and then sent a call through to Jazz, asking for an update.

"It's a mess, Sam. I'm counting over a thousand ecto-signatures at the moment, most of which we've never even seen before and a lot of them are packed in so tightly that I can't even get a proper read on them. On the plus side, there's about three hundred fewer than when we started, so that's something," Jazz replied, the usually calm and collected woman sounding somewhat shaken by the magnitude of this attack.

"Alright, what about the tactical situation as a whole?" Sam asked as she digested the new information. Over a thousand enemy ghosts, most of which hadn't set foot in Amity Park before… there was something very wrong about the whole situation.

"It's hard to tell because of how fluid it all is, but it looks like you guys have managed to contain them a bit; they certainly haven't made any real progress towards the residential areas. It looks like a bit of a stalemate though, overall. Danny and Pandora were cut-off from Fright Knight, so that plan's stalled for the moment, but Mum and Dad have almost finished with the evacuation, so they should be there to help soon, along with Pandora's forces; that should give you the advantage."

So they were fighting them to a standstill at the moment, that was better than nothing, she supposed. But with Fright Knight still active and numbers to burn, their enemies had the advantage and they would be in trouble if something didn't change soon. They needed to deal with Fright Knight and condense the horde a bit before Danny could hit them with a Ghostly Wail, otherwise this fight would drag on for hours and the casualties would be way too high.

Hearing the computer beep to say her diagnostic was complete and that her armour was still in working order wrenched her from her thoughts. She clasped the form-fitting system of ceramic plates back on as she replied to Jazz.

"Got it Jazz, where should Wulf and I go next?"

"Um, it looks like they're building up around the north-east side- wait, no, it looks like Clockwork just took care of them. Alright, go about 200m west of the base, it looks like they're making a push against Frostbite's position there."

And so she found herself back into the fray once more.

* * *

Jazz slumped back against the well-worn chair in the Ops-Centre as she stared at the swirling, chaotic mass of dots that represented all the ghosts in Amity Park, all one thousand one hundred and fifty- two of them.

Normally, she lived for a challenge, something to push her limits and test her skills; but this was something way more serious than a simple challenge. It was her family out there, in the firing line, and the odds really weren't in their favour this time. She knew that they were all a match for any five ghosts and probably more, but all it would take was one lucky shot…

Turning her mind to a more familiar topic, she analysed her brief talk with Sam. She cared for the younger girl like a sister, and that's practically what she had been for the last ten years or so. As such, the strain in her voice and the cold edge to it immediately set off alarm bells.

Jazz knew that Danny and Danielle's safety would be weighing heavily on her mind at the moment and she was clearly trying to distract herself from worrying about it, but the effort was showing. She was determined and impossibly stubborn, but she was also highly emotional and devoted, and she just couldn't switch that part of her off, try as she might. But if she kept suppressing it like this, something was in danger of breaking, and if something were to ever happen to-

The sudden appearance of two hundred new ecto-signatures caught her eye and she nearly leapt out of her chair. These new signatures were familiar, familiar and not in the least bit friendly.

Walker and his prison guards had just arrived.

* * *

"Alright Skulker, you may begin; do NOT fail me or I will reduce your precious suit into so much ash, with you inside if I feel so inclined."

Skulker merely rolled his eyes at the casual threat of violence and flew through the portal, readying himself for the hunt.

This one would be interesting.

* * *

**[AN: And there you are, more complications!**

**Sorry about the wait, but there wasn't much I could do about it, I didn't have nearly as much time as I would have liked to write and DP combat is still a difficult subject matter for me.**

**Also, there is something of a pun/reference in the last two chapter titles. it wasn't exactly intentional, but it was to perfect to pass up.**

**Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. /AN]**


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